Earlier, we talked about Maryland beaches. Now, we turn our attention south to Virginia.

I haven’t spent as much time in Virginia, but I’m impressed by what I’ve seen of the state park and natural area system. Beautiful, well-managed parks, with kayaks and bikes to rent, and lodges for sleeping for those who don’t like camping.

When you have kids, vacations are more work than working. There’s no break time. And my kids, ages 10 and 4, are not fans of the long car trip. We always forget something important, like that extra pair of shoes or the eczema cream. And my littlest one doesn’t sleep well outside of her own...

Summer can be tough on working parents. It’s hard to figure out what to do with your kids. Camps are expensive, and often, there isn’t space because you wait until the last minute to realize you need one. Movies? I took my family of four to see Minions in 3D and it cost $70! There are various attractions, but they add up, too.

I wondered, why are people not exploring the outdoors close to home? I asked a couple of friends, fellow parents, why that is. One claimed he couldn’t get his 8-year-old away from his screen for more than 30 minutes. Another said fellow parents are terrified of Lyme disease. Still another said it’s not worth the bug bites.

Sunday was my birthday, and the city of Baltimore and the Waterfront Partnership gave me a lovely gift: A beautiful morning of kayaking the flat waters of Baltimore Inner Harbor. They threw in a charming Australian guide, a lovely group of fellow paddlers and temperatures that were stifling on land but quite comfortable from the reclining seat of a kayak.

Baltimore is getting an award tonight for its efforts to build a more sustainable community.

The award comes from STAR- Sustainable Tools for Assessing and Rating Communities. It honors the city for adapting for climate change, its work in urban agricultural food production and its commitment to turning vacant lots into green spaces.

Tuesday morning, a boat will leave from Kent Narrows with some of the region’s best chefs on board. They will visit crab-picking operations and oyster-shucking houses. They will smell and taste Maryland seafood, feel the waves of the Chesapeake and shake the calloused hands of the watermen who catch the rockfish and crabs. If all goes well, they will commit to selling local fish...

Baltimore often looks to Chicago for inspiration on how to become a cleaner and greener city.

Like Baltimore, Chicago was a largely industrial city at the turn of the last century. Chicago had meat-packing, while Baltimore had shipyards, a steel maker and a host of chemical companies. Chicago had its namesake river, fetid and polluted from the stockyards’ cast-offs - carcasses,...

About Rona Kobell

Rona Kobell is a staff writer for the Bay Journal. She has began her journalism career at The Jerusalem Post, then moved to Washington, D.C., to become a writer and editor for Public Risk, a trade journal. She worked for newspapers in St. Joseph, Mo., and her hometown of Pittsburgh before joining The Baltimore Sun in 2000 where she became its Chesapeake Bay reporter in 2004. Her work has won numerous awards and in 2008, she was selected as a Knight-Wallace fellow at the University of Michigan, where she spent a year studying the use of economic incentives in environmental policy.